ISPs to meet Met on Net porn beat

Internet service providers have met the Metropolitan Police in an attempt to stop pornography on the Web.

But sources said the attempts were ill-founded as the Usenet groups they were hunting were superseded by software like Internet Explorer and Netscape.

Mike Hoskins, superintendent at the Met's vice unit, said he was investigating a number of avenues.

He said there were two main options open to ISPs. The first was for ISPs to regulate themselves, the second was for police authorities to become involved.

But sources at both Microsoft and Netscape claimed that pornography was impossible to regulate on the World Wide Web. Hoskins was unavailable to comment.

There are two aspects to the problem. First, although it is possible for providers to regulate UK Usenet groups, filtering out ones most people would find unacceptable, Navigator and other browsers can access foreign sites easily.

Second, even if UK providers could crack this problem, there is nothing to stop the determined taking out foreign accounts with providers.